The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-08-12
The Hip Pocket 1vl-


Two bills have been introduced into tbe
/ Legislature 70 increase the punishment fer
carrying concealed weapons One ElaEes
/ the offence felony, and provides tEAt Z
f shall be punished hy Imprisonment N tbe
! peaite-5ary with hard labor for Tot less
| than one nor more than five years. The
/ other bin amends the code 50 a. 70 provide
d fine Of not less than 500 nor more than
! 81 900, and imprisonment II the county jail
( for n0s more than twelve mouths or IN the
peuipantiary for not less thar one nor for
more than four years.
The punishment provided by either bin Is
quite severe, and If either bill should become
a Law and She law should be enforced the
colcealed weapon evil would quickly dis
appear. Indeed il Is probable that if the
existing law were enforced II would be
found sufficient There Is no Objection 70
either Of the pending bills, however. Let
the hip-pocket offense be maze as odious as
possible Perkaps if il Is made a felony
public sentiment viii become 50 strong
against il that no man who makes any pre-
tentions 10 responsibility VIII constantly
keep coneealedabout his person little gun
or q dirk knife
The trouble Is that while every right
thinking person recognizes the fact that the
carrying Of concealed weapons is great
evil few have the courage TO openly con
denim the practice. Everybody admits that
the law prohibiting the practice is a good
one and should be enforced, but not one man
in a thousand VIII help TO enforce it The
great ina ority of men WI help 70 arrest
thief or house burner, but they viii not
even give information which might lead 70
the arrest Of one who violates the law Of
carrying concealed weapons The reason is
that public Sentiment condemns the thief
and baase burner, but it tolerates the Of
fender WAC Tugs concealed deadly weapons
about With him, and yet the deadly weapon
offender Is dangerous 20 society.
Within few days two prominent men Of
this State have been made the victims Of
the practice Of carrying concealed weapons,
and, strange as il may seem, those who car
ried the deadly weapons and used them
were municipal officials One Of the vic
Tins was Mr.. Horn, Of Atlanta, and the man
who shot him Is q councilman of one Of the
small towns Of the State The Coroner's
jury returned a verdict Of accidental kill
ing That was rather remarkable yer
dict II is true that the shot that killed
Mr.. Horn was not fired at him, but there
are two reasons why the firing Of it was not
excusable. One IS that the Antagonist Of the
man vino fired the shot was not armed. and
the other Is that the carrying Of "a concealed
weapon is violation Of the law. Thepublic
sentiment Which permits human
life TO be held cheaply will
hinder the law against carry
ing concealed weapons from being enforced,
even though the offense is made felony.
WHAT is needed is a healthier public senti-
meut with respect to the taking of human
life When those who take human life
without justifiable cause are made to pay
the penalty Of their crime it viii not be a
difficult matter 30 enforce the law against
carrying concealed weapons. Indeed, there
viii not be much need Of such a law, be-
case the practice of carrying deadly
weapons win virtually cease